Lost Recap Part I: More Confusion

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Welcome back everyone, to the first hour of the season premiere of the final season of Lost -- Darlton's final stab at remotely lobotomizing millions of people, each week.

Jack's on a plane -- not just any plane -- Oceanic flight 815 from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles, Calif. He's got the window seat, but the aisle seat is empty, so he talks to his nice row-mate (Rose!) whose husband (Bernard!) is in the loo.

The flight attendant (Cindy!) stiffens his drink for him. Rose is (this time) as cool as a cucumber, but Jack gets awfully tense when they hit some turbulence. The plane shakes, rattles and damn near rolls and then... everything is okay! Don't tell me it worked. Bernard returns to his seat next to his wife. Jack decides he'll take advantage of the plane's lavatory too. While in it, he notices a bloody mark on his neck.

When he returns to his seat, Desmond is sitting in the previously empty aisle seat, brutha. Jack asks if they know one another. Desmond isn't sure, so he introduces himself and they exchange pleasantries. Jack seems disconcerted by the meeting, so he looks out the window, as do we. We see nothing but fluffy white clouds, and then the sound man and camera man start messing with our heads.

We hear the sound of a rapid descent, and we're led down through the clouds, to the ocean, underneath it, past the sunken remains of New Otherton, before stopping in front of the remains of old Four-Toes' foot. And remember, I said sunken remains, so THIS IS ALL UNDER THE WATER. Dun, dun, dun. DUN!

Black screen. Title card.

Next, we're treated to a review of the final moments in last season's finale, "The Incident." The crew tries to save Juliet from the big hole o' magnetism. They can't. Sawyer cries. She cries. They love each other. She bangs the dud hydrogen bomb with a rock. FLASH! White screen.

Nighttime: Kate wakes up in a tree. Her hearing is shot, as if, perhaps, she was deafened by a hydrogen bomb. She climbs down from the tree and finds Miles Straume, who is also hard of hearing. They find Jack lying in the jungle, even though he's on the plane with Bernard and Rose, or possibly under the water with Four Toes' foot. They see a gaping pit in the ground. But it's not from Juliet detonating the bomb. It's from when Des blew up the Swan hatch, which means -- they think -- that the bomb didn't go KABOOM, but does it? Next they run into Sawyer, who kicks Jack in the head and down into the Swan hatch pit, and screams down after Jack that Juliet's dead because he was wrong. Oh yeah, baby. Lost is back. Or nearly so. I don't think Jack's cried yet.

For the rest of the hour, we bounce back and forth between the alternate-reality plane trip (daytime) on Sept.22, 2004 and nighttime on the island, on whatever post-hatch-explosion date they've landed. They all flashed to wherever and whenever they are now. And? Juliet's not dead.

She's in the lower levels of the hatch pit, covered with hatch debris (from when Des made the hatch go splodey). The rest of the time on the island involves the group's efforts (the full group is Jack, Kate, Miles, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Hurley, and Sayid) to free Juliet from the Hatch ruins.

Okay, Hurley's not helping. He's tending to Sayid who is not helping, because he's still dying from the wounds he got last season. I should mention Hurley is also taking instructions from Jacob, who looks pretty alive, but says he is dead and that Hurley is the only one of them who can see him. Jacob says to get Sayid and the others to the Temple. Sayid will be saved and they'll all be safe if they do.

We also take a trip to the foot of the statue. Inside, Esau's still wearing his Locke Meatsuit, so I'm calling him Faux-Locke for clarity. Faux-Locke snatches a post-homicidal Ben back from the brink of catatonia and tells him to bring him Richard. Ben goes outside, neglects to mention that HE KILLED JACOB, and tells Richard that Locke wants to see him inside.

Richard finds that curious, given how Locke's corpse is lying on the sand. Finally, Ilana's biggest goon (Bram) says he and his crew are going in, but Ben's leading the way. The guys all go in the foot. I don't see Ilana follow, but my brain function is at an all-time low. Faux-Locke tells them Jacob is dead. Bram and crew start shooting at Faux-Locke. Ben takes cover. Faux-Locke disappears. But soon there's a rattle, rattle, rattle which can only mean one thing. SMOKEY! He wafts in and smites all but Ben, and then disappears. Ben crawls out from his hiding place, and while he's surveying the carnage, Faux-Locke reappears and confirms he and SMOKEY are one when he says, "I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

Black screen.

Meanwhile, back at the pit, the gang uses the Dharma Blue VW Bus to drag some debris off of the top of the hatch pit, and poor Juliet, who is buried somewhere beneath. Sawyer climbs down to free her. He finally gets the beams and bikes and whatever else off her and holds her in his arms as he tells her not to worry. She non-sequiturs: "We should get coffee sometime." Sawyer's no Doc, but even he knows that can't be good, so he groans that he's got to get her out of there. She adds, "We can do Dutch." He tries to break through her fog. Finally, Juliet says his name. She asks him to kiss her. He does, and then she says, "I have to tell you something. It's really, really important."

JAMES: "You tell me. Tell me."

JULIET: *dies*

I'm sorry to make light, I love her, and I love them together, but that scene just hit my funny bone. Anyhow, James carries Juliet's body out of the very bottom of the pit, to the upper level, where the rest of the gang can see him. Everyone's broken hearted that she's gone. Sawyer shoots bullets at Jack with his eyes. "You did this."

Meanwhile, the plan lands safely in L.A. and everyone disembarks and starts on their own ways. And you know, a lot happened on that plane, but this is a recaplet, dammit. Jack saved Charlie from killing himself, and then Charlie got arrested. Locke got to know Damon Salvatore; Hurley declared himself the luckiest man alive, and Desmond disappeared. I'll cover all that and much, much more in the full recap, but right now, I've got to go watch "LA X, Part II." I'll see you soon.

While Cindy's putting her brain back together, watch the full episode now. Check back soon for the recap.